Chosen (10 page)
‘Good morning beautiful, what’s
for breakfast, I’m starving.’
Max laughed. ‘Do you ever think
about anything other than your stomach?’
‘Oh yes . . . I most certainly
do,’ he said, nuzzling into Max’s neck.
Daria and Gilster were drinking
their morning coffee; something they had both come to enjoy in this
new world.
‘I’m going to take this back
home when we’ve finished,’ said Daria, delicately lifting her
coffee cup for another sip. Gilster looked over his cup at her,
saying nothing. ‘What? You think we won’t we won’t be going
home?’
‘I can honestly say I haven’t
thought about it.’
strolled arm in arm into the kitchen and poured themselves a
coffee.
‘How are you both this
morning?’ asked Haven, coffee-cup in hand, his arm draped
possessively across Max’s shoulders.
‘Fine, and you?’ answered
Gilster smiling. Daria was a little less congenial, still upset
from the previous conversation.
night but we have no idea what it means, Max, please tell me you
know what these squiggles mean.’ She handed the paper over. Max
studied the piece of paper while she drank her coffee.
‘I sure do,’ she said, ‘they’re
numbers, in fact, I think they might be map co-ordinates. I only
know that because I once went out with a guy who was into
orienteering and he taught me how to read maps and use a compass
and a GPS.’ She looked up, pleased that for once she had been able
to help. ‘What?’ she said, looking at three blank faces.
‘We have absolutely no idea
what you just said,’ said Daria.
‘Sorry, I keep forgetting that
you’re not from here. But it could be good news,’ said Max, looking
back to the piece of paper. ‘If these are map co-ordinates they
will show us where a certain place can be found. And if it’s
something the Anubians were interested in, then I expect it’s
something we will be interested in too, like perhaps, where the
portal is.’ She felt the now familiar tickle in her mind.
nearly spilling her coffee. ‘This may be the clue we’ve been
looking for,’ she said,’ I hope you can still remember how to read
it; if this really is the position of the portal we can move on and
find the next Chosen.’
Gilster was a little less
excited. ‘It may well be directions to the portal, but until Max
works it all out and assuming she works it out correctly---,’
‘She will,’ said Haven
adamantly.
Gilster continued, ‘assuming
she works it out correctly, it could be miles away from here and we
still have to get there without getting caught.’
‘Don’t be so negative Gil,’
said Haven, ‘we’ve got this far haven’t we?’ Max chose to keep
quiet while the other three talked about what they should do next,
she didn’t feel confident enough in her position yet, to be part of
the decision making. She just didn’t want to let them down.
‘Right,’ said Daria, ‘what’s
the first thing you need to do to work out where we might find this
place.’
‘A GPS would be a good start,
but I’ll have to buy one, it’s not the--,’ Daria cut her off.’
‘Off you go,’ she said with a
shooing motion, ‘quickly . . . go and get one and hurry back.’ Max
picked up her bag and started towards the door.
‘Hang on,’ she said, turning
back to the group, ‘ I think I’ll take a copy of those co ordinates
before I go, maybe I can get the guy at the shop to work it all out
for me.’
‘Probably wouldn’t hurt to have
another copy either,’ said Gilster, ‘just in case something happens
to this one.’
Max ripped a piece of resort
stationery from the complimentary pad and copied the sequence of
numbers; she put the paper in her bag and headed towards the door
again.
‘Wait,’ shouted Haven, ‘I’m
coming with you, I don’t want you out there on your own with
Anubians running around all over the place.’ Max almost said she
was a big girl and able to take care of herself but decided she’d
rather have his company.
‘OK, let’s go.’
As Haven reached the door, he
turned back to Gilster.
‘Lock the door after we leave
and don’t open it unless you know who it is.’ Daria rolled her
eyes.
‘Don’t be so dramatic Haven, no
one knows we’re here.’
Gilster walked to the door. ‘I
will,’ he said, ‘be safe and hurry back.’
Max and Haven climbed into the
car and drove out of the resort. ‘It’s nice to have some time to
ourselves, isn’t it?’ said Max. ‘We can pretend we’re an ordinary
couple getting to know one another, doing the ordinary things
couples do.’
Haven smiled. ‘As opposed to
the truth; two people who are falling in love, each from a
different world, being chased by evil people from another world who
are trying to kill them, all because some beings who live in space
have asked them for help; yes, it is nice.’
‘You’re falling in love with
me?’
Haven burst out laughing. ‘Of
everything I said, that’s the only part you heard?’
‘Yep,’ said Max, ‘I tuned out
after that.’
up from behind the counter. He was tall, rather skinny, had spiky
blonde hair and acne on his cheeks.
‘Hi . . . Lucas,’ said Max,
reading the name tag pinned to his T shirt, ‘I hope you can help
us.’
‘That’s what I’m here for,’
said Lucas in his friendliest, customer service voice. Sensing a
sale out of this encounter he knew he would need to use all his
charm if he was ever to get the red sports car he had his eye on,
‘commission only sucks,’ he thought. ‘How can I help?’
‘Well,’ said Max, ‘what we’re
after is a GPS and someone to show us how it works. Can you
help?’
Lucas’s eyes lit up, ‘sucker,’
he thought. ‘I sure can, GPS’s are my specialty; follow me.’ He led
them through the store to the back wall where at least twenty
different types of GPS’s were hanging. Going straight to the most
expensive one and taking it down, Lucas said, ‘personally, this is
my favourite.’ He took it over to the nearest counter. ‘I’ll make a
mint of commission on this one, and they’re both too stupid to know
a cheaper one would do exactly the same job,’ he thought. ‘It does
everything for you but make the coffee.’ Haven had taken an instant
dislike to the young man, and hearing his thoughts wasn’t
helping.
‘Could you show us how it
works?’ he asked, ‘it helps me to understand better if I can watch
someone using it.’
Max leaned on the counter to
get a better look, giving Lucas an eyeful of cleavage as her shirt
fell forward. Hearing Lucas’ thoughts, Haven could barely control
his anger; he moved Max to one side. She gave him a quizzical look.
“What’s wrong?” she thought. “He’s looking down your top,” thought
Haven, “and if he doesn’t stop with those thoughts I won’t be
responsible for what I might do to him.” Max stepped back,
blushing, her hand went to her throat. Lucas, oblivious to the
conversation going on out of his hearing, carried on trying to make
a sale.
‘Sure,’ he said, ‘let me set up
the GPS and we can have a practice.’
‘I have some co-ordinates,’
said Haven through gritted teeth, ‘use these.’ He slapped the piece
of paper down on the counter. Lucas felt the waves of anger coming
from Haven but couldn’t work out what he had done wrong. Feeling a
bit intimidated he thought it would be prudent to get some
help.
‘I’ll be right back,’ he said,
leaving the GPS on the counter, ‘I’ll just get my boss, he’s better
with these things than I am.’
‘We’ll be waiting,’ said Haven.
While Lucas was gone, Haven took down another GPS from the wall and
put it in his pocket.
‘What are you doing,’ said Max,
‘that’s stealing.’
‘Desperate times,’ said Haven.
‘He’s coming back, follow my lead.’ Lucas returned with an older
man.
‘Hi folks; Lucas here tells me
you are interested in a GPS,’ said the congenial, plump, red faced
man who had accompanied Lucas back to the counter.
Haven nodded. ‘This is the one
he recommended,’ he said, picking up the expensive GPS from the
counter. ‘I just wanted a quick run-down on how it works. Can you
show me?’
‘Certainly,’ said the older
man, ‘are these the co-ordinates you want me to use? He picked up
the piece of paper. Haven nodded again. The older man put the
co-ordinates into the GPS and pressed “go to”.
‘I can’t tell you exactly where
it is, but I can tell you it’s about eight hundred miles in a south
westerly direction.’
‘That’ll do,’ said Haven,
‘we’ll take it.’ He began to hustle Max towards the front-door.
‘Wrap it up and we’ll be back to pay,’ he said over his
shoulder.
‘What are you doing,’ said Max,
as Haven raced her out the door, ‘I can’t afford that one.’
‘You don’t need to,’ said
Haven, ‘as long as you can remember what he showed us, I have the
other GPS in my pocket. Remember? Anyway, there was no way that
little weasel was getting any money from us, especially not with
the things he was thinking about you.’
‘What things?’
‘I’d rather not say, it makes
me angry just thinking about it. Quick, get a move on,’ he bundled
her into the car, ‘I think Lucas has realised we’re not coming back
and he’s not happy. I can see him heading this way.’ Max jumped
into the driver’s seat, fumbling to get the key in the ignition,
finally the engine roared into life and they left the car-park with
a squeal of tyres.
The adrenalin was coursing
through Max’s veins, her heart raced like an Olympic runner’s.
Throwing back her head, she howled, ‘woo hoo, that was exciting, I
feel like a criminal.’
‘You are a criminal,’ laughed
Haven, ‘but perhaps you should slow down a bit, we don’t want to
attract attention.’
‘Oh . . . yeah,’ she eased her
foot off the accelerator.
beach before we head back? We can have a couple of those lattes you
love so much,’ said Haven.
‘I like the sound of that,’
smiled Max, ‘I can have a practice with the GPS you stole.’
‘We’ll keep practising until we
get it right and when we go back we can show Gil and Daria; that
should make them happy.’
‘I just wish you had stolen the
instruction book as well,’ grinned Max.
Daria and Gilster were relaxing
in the lounge room enjoying the peace and quiet. Daria was sprawled
across the sofa, her head propped up by cushions, Gilster sat in an
over-stuffed chair, one leg dangling over the broad arm.
‘Max was telling me that to get
things in this world you have to have money to buy them,’ said
Gilster thoughtfully, ‘I could make a fortune here, singing
houses.’
‘You’d hate the fame and crowds
that came with it, remember they don’t have singers here, you’d be
a novelty,’ said Daria.
‘Mmm, you’re probably right, I
hadn’t thought of that.’
‘Don’t get too attached to this
place, we’ll be leaving soon . . . I hope. By the way, you still
have my scroll, don’t you?’
‘Yes,’ said Gilster, ‘it’s in
my bag.’
‘I think I might put it my
backpack, the one I bought when I went shopping with Max. I’ll just
get it from your room,’ she said rising from the sofa, ‘I’ll be
right back.’
She retrieved the scroll from
Gilster’s bag and went into her own room. Hiding the parchment in
the lining of her backpack, she returned it to the top shelf of the
wardrobe, ‘mustn’t forget to take it with me when we go,’ she
thought.
Spying Shibby sleeping on a
pile of clothes at the back of the wardrobe, she smiled. ‘You look
comfortable,’ she said, rubbing him under the chin. Shibby hissed
loudly and ran from the room. She pulled her hand back
instinctively, ‘what’s wrong with him,’ she thought. Then she heard
it too, a scuffling sound, followed by muffled cries and a loud
bang. She jumped. ‘Gilster? What are you doing? Are you all right?’
The hairs on the back of her neck began to rise. ‘Something’s
wrong,’ she thought. Quickly, looking around for something to use
as a weapon, she grabbed the nearest thing she could find; a table
lamp with a heavy brass base. Creeping cautiously back down the
hallway, she listened for any sound coming from the lounge room;
there was none. ‘Please,’ she said over and over again, ‘please,
let Gilster be alright.’
Entering the lounge room,
table-lamp clutched tightly in her hands, she noticed Gilster’s
feet sticking out from behind the sofa. The lamp fell from her
hand, forgotten. She ran to the sofa, frightened of what she might
find. Steeling herself to look, she saw Gilster lying on the floor
with a gaping wound in his shoulder; blood was soaking into the
carpet and spreading out from beneath his body. She screamed and
dropped to her knees. Not sure if he was dead or alive she lifted
his head and shook him gently.
for breakfast, I’m starving.’
Max laughed. ‘Do you ever think
about anything other than your stomach?’
‘Oh yes . . . I most certainly
do,’ he said, nuzzling into Max’s neck.
Daria and Gilster were drinking
their morning coffee; something they had both come to enjoy in this
new world.
‘I’m going to take this back
home when we’ve finished,’ said Daria, delicately lifting her
coffee cup for another sip. Gilster looked over his cup at her,
saying nothing. ‘What? You think we won’t we won’t be going
home?’
‘I can honestly say I haven’t
thought about it.’
‘Well I have,
believe me, we
will
be going home.’
strolled arm in arm into the kitchen and poured themselves a
coffee.
‘How are you both this
morning?’ asked Haven, coffee-cup in hand, his arm draped
possessively across Max’s shoulders.
‘Fine, and you?’ answered
Gilster smiling. Daria was a little less congenial, still upset
from the previous conversation.
‘It’s about
time you got out of bed,’ she snapped, ‘you
do
remember why we’re here? We need to
start working out what this says.’ She held up the piece of paper
with the strange marks and waved it around.
night but we have no idea what it means, Max, please tell me you
know what these squiggles mean.’ She handed the paper over. Max
studied the piece of paper while she drank her coffee.
‘I sure do,’ she said, ‘they’re
numbers, in fact, I think they might be map co-ordinates. I only
know that because I once went out with a guy who was into
orienteering and he taught me how to read maps and use a compass
and a GPS.’ She looked up, pleased that for once she had been able
to help. ‘What?’ she said, looking at three blank faces.
‘We have absolutely no idea
what you just said,’ said Daria.
‘Sorry, I keep forgetting that
you’re not from here. But it could be good news,’ said Max, looking
back to the piece of paper. ‘If these are map co-ordinates they
will show us where a certain place can be found. And if it’s
something the Anubians were interested in, then I expect it’s
something we will be interested in too, like perhaps, where the
portal is.’ She felt the now familiar tickle in her mind.
‘I love a woman
with beauty
and
brains,’ she heard.
nearly spilling her coffee. ‘This may be the clue we’ve been
looking for,’ she said,’ I hope you can still remember how to read
it; if this really is the position of the portal we can move on and
find the next Chosen.’
Gilster was a little less
excited. ‘It may well be directions to the portal, but until Max
works it all out and assuming she works it out correctly---,’
‘She will,’ said Haven
adamantly.
Gilster continued, ‘assuming
she works it out correctly, it could be miles away from here and we
still have to get there without getting caught.’
‘Don’t be so negative Gil,’
said Haven, ‘we’ve got this far haven’t we?’ Max chose to keep
quiet while the other three talked about what they should do next,
she didn’t feel confident enough in her position yet, to be part of
the decision making. She just didn’t want to let them down.
‘Right,’ said Daria, ‘what’s
the first thing you need to do to work out where we might find this
place.’
‘A GPS would be a good start,
but I’ll have to buy one, it’s not the--,’ Daria cut her off.’
‘Off you go,’ she said with a
shooing motion, ‘quickly . . . go and get one and hurry back.’ Max
picked up her bag and started towards the door.
‘Hang on,’ she said, turning
back to the group, ‘ I think I’ll take a copy of those co ordinates
before I go, maybe I can get the guy at the shop to work it all out
for me.’
‘Probably wouldn’t hurt to have
another copy either,’ said Gilster, ‘just in case something happens
to this one.’
Max ripped a piece of resort
stationery from the complimentary pad and copied the sequence of
numbers; she put the paper in her bag and headed towards the door
again.
‘Wait,’ shouted Haven, ‘I’m
coming with you, I don’t want you out there on your own with
Anubians running around all over the place.’ Max almost said she
was a big girl and able to take care of herself but decided she’d
rather have his company.
‘OK, let’s go.’
As Haven reached the door, he
turned back to Gilster.
‘Lock the door after we leave
and don’t open it unless you know who it is.’ Daria rolled her
eyes.
‘Don’t be so dramatic Haven, no
one knows we’re here.’
Gilster walked to the door. ‘I
will,’ he said, ‘be safe and hurry back.’
Max and Haven climbed into the
car and drove out of the resort. ‘It’s nice to have some time to
ourselves, isn’t it?’ said Max. ‘We can pretend we’re an ordinary
couple getting to know one another, doing the ordinary things
couples do.’
Haven smiled. ‘As opposed to
the truth; two people who are falling in love, each from a
different world, being chased by evil people from another world who
are trying to kill them, all because some beings who live in space
have asked them for help; yes, it is nice.’
‘You’re falling in love with
me?’
Haven burst out laughing. ‘Of
everything I said, that’s the only part you heard?’
‘Yep,’ said Max, ‘I tuned out
after that.’
After driving
around for about thirty minutes Max spied a camping store. ‘I
should be able to get a GPS from there,’ she said, pointing
to
Carl’s Camping Heaven
. She pulled into the camping store car park, ‘not a lot of
customers today,’ she thought as she parked directly outside the
front door. They walked into the store, which looked more like a
warehouse than a shop and made their way to the customer service
desk, browsing as they went.
up from behind the counter. He was tall, rather skinny, had spiky
blonde hair and acne on his cheeks.
‘Hi . . . Lucas,’ said Max,
reading the name tag pinned to his T shirt, ‘I hope you can help
us.’
‘That’s what I’m here for,’
said Lucas in his friendliest, customer service voice. Sensing a
sale out of this encounter he knew he would need to use all his
charm if he was ever to get the red sports car he had his eye on,
‘commission only sucks,’ he thought. ‘How can I help?’
‘Well,’ said Max, ‘what we’re
after is a GPS and someone to show us how it works. Can you
help?’
Lucas’s eyes lit up, ‘sucker,’
he thought. ‘I sure can, GPS’s are my specialty; follow me.’ He led
them through the store to the back wall where at least twenty
different types of GPS’s were hanging. Going straight to the most
expensive one and taking it down, Lucas said, ‘personally, this is
my favourite.’ He took it over to the nearest counter. ‘I’ll make a
mint of commission on this one, and they’re both too stupid to know
a cheaper one would do exactly the same job,’ he thought. ‘It does
everything for you but make the coffee.’ Haven had taken an instant
dislike to the young man, and hearing his thoughts wasn’t
helping.
‘Could you show us how it
works?’ he asked, ‘it helps me to understand better if I can watch
someone using it.’
Max leaned on the counter to
get a better look, giving Lucas an eyeful of cleavage as her shirt
fell forward. Hearing Lucas’ thoughts, Haven could barely control
his anger; he moved Max to one side. She gave him a quizzical look.
“What’s wrong?” she thought. “He’s looking down your top,” thought
Haven, “and if he doesn’t stop with those thoughts I won’t be
responsible for what I might do to him.” Max stepped back,
blushing, her hand went to her throat. Lucas, oblivious to the
conversation going on out of his hearing, carried on trying to make
a sale.
‘Sure,’ he said, ‘let me set up
the GPS and we can have a practice.’
‘I have some co-ordinates,’
said Haven through gritted teeth, ‘use these.’ He slapped the piece
of paper down on the counter. Lucas felt the waves of anger coming
from Haven but couldn’t work out what he had done wrong. Feeling a
bit intimidated he thought it would be prudent to get some
help.
‘I’ll be right back,’ he said,
leaving the GPS on the counter, ‘I’ll just get my boss, he’s better
with these things than I am.’
‘We’ll be waiting,’ said Haven.
While Lucas was gone, Haven took down another GPS from the wall and
put it in his pocket.
‘What are you doing,’ said Max,
‘that’s stealing.’
‘Desperate times,’ said Haven.
‘He’s coming back, follow my lead.’ Lucas returned with an older
man.
‘Hi folks; Lucas here tells me
you are interested in a GPS,’ said the congenial, plump, red faced
man who had accompanied Lucas back to the counter.
Haven nodded. ‘This is the one
he recommended,’ he said, picking up the expensive GPS from the
counter. ‘I just wanted a quick run-down on how it works. Can you
show me?’
‘Certainly,’ said the older
man, ‘are these the co-ordinates you want me to use? He picked up
the piece of paper. Haven nodded again. The older man put the
co-ordinates into the GPS and pressed “go to”.
‘I can’t tell you exactly where
it is, but I can tell you it’s about eight hundred miles in a south
westerly direction.’
‘That’ll do,’ said Haven,
‘we’ll take it.’ He began to hustle Max towards the front-door.
‘Wrap it up and we’ll be back to pay,’ he said over his
shoulder.
‘What are you doing,’ said Max,
as Haven raced her out the door, ‘I can’t afford that one.’
‘You don’t need to,’ said
Haven, ‘as long as you can remember what he showed us, I have the
other GPS in my pocket. Remember? Anyway, there was no way that
little weasel was getting any money from us, especially not with
the things he was thinking about you.’
‘What things?’
‘I’d rather not say, it makes
me angry just thinking about it. Quick, get a move on,’ he bundled
her into the car, ‘I think Lucas has realised we’re not coming back
and he’s not happy. I can see him heading this way.’ Max jumped
into the driver’s seat, fumbling to get the key in the ignition,
finally the engine roared into life and they left the car-park with
a squeal of tyres.
The adrenalin was coursing
through Max’s veins, her heart raced like an Olympic runner’s.
Throwing back her head, she howled, ‘woo hoo, that was exciting, I
feel like a criminal.’
‘You are a criminal,’ laughed
Haven, ‘but perhaps you should slow down a bit, we don’t want to
attract attention.’
‘Oh . . . yeah,’ she eased her
foot off the accelerator.
beach before we head back? We can have a couple of those lattes you
love so much,’ said Haven.
‘I like the sound of that,’
smiled Max, ‘I can have a practice with the GPS you stole.’
‘We’ll keep practising until we
get it right and when we go back we can show Gil and Daria; that
should make them happy.’
‘I just wish you had stolen the
instruction book as well,’ grinned Max.
Daria and Gilster were relaxing
in the lounge room enjoying the peace and quiet. Daria was sprawled
across the sofa, her head propped up by cushions, Gilster sat in an
over-stuffed chair, one leg dangling over the broad arm.
‘Max was telling me that to get
things in this world you have to have money to buy them,’ said
Gilster thoughtfully, ‘I could make a fortune here, singing
houses.’
‘You’d hate the fame and crowds
that came with it, remember they don’t have singers here, you’d be
a novelty,’ said Daria.
‘Mmm, you’re probably right, I
hadn’t thought of that.’
‘Don’t get too attached to this
place, we’ll be leaving soon . . . I hope. By the way, you still
have my scroll, don’t you?’
‘Yes,’ said Gilster, ‘it’s in
my bag.’
‘I think I might put it my
backpack, the one I bought when I went shopping with Max. I’ll just
get it from your room,’ she said rising from the sofa, ‘I’ll be
right back.’
She retrieved the scroll from
Gilster’s bag and went into her own room. Hiding the parchment in
the lining of her backpack, she returned it to the top shelf of the
wardrobe, ‘mustn’t forget to take it with me when we go,’ she
thought.
Spying Shibby sleeping on a
pile of clothes at the back of the wardrobe, she smiled. ‘You look
comfortable,’ she said, rubbing him under the chin. Shibby hissed
loudly and ran from the room. She pulled her hand back
instinctively, ‘what’s wrong with him,’ she thought. Then she heard
it too, a scuffling sound, followed by muffled cries and a loud
bang. She jumped. ‘Gilster? What are you doing? Are you all right?’
The hairs on the back of her neck began to rise. ‘Something’s
wrong,’ she thought. Quickly, looking around for something to use
as a weapon, she grabbed the nearest thing she could find; a table
lamp with a heavy brass base. Creeping cautiously back down the
hallway, she listened for any sound coming from the lounge room;
there was none. ‘Please,’ she said over and over again, ‘please,
let Gilster be alright.’
Entering the lounge room,
table-lamp clutched tightly in her hands, she noticed Gilster’s
feet sticking out from behind the sofa. The lamp fell from her
hand, forgotten. She ran to the sofa, frightened of what she might
find. Steeling herself to look, she saw Gilster lying on the floor
with a gaping wound in his shoulder; blood was soaking into the
carpet and spreading out from beneath his body. She screamed and
dropped to her knees. Not sure if he was dead or alive she lifted
his head and shook him gently.
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